Disaster relief

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar established Ananda Marga to help all human beings develop spiritually. However, people suffering absolute poverty or devastated by natural calamities are mentally unable to meditate or do other spiritual practices. Hence Ananda Marga's affiliated relief branch AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team) operates disaster relief operations and development projects to help those in need.

One of the few voluntary organizations of Third World origin, AMURT was established in 1970 and incorporated in the USA in 1985. It is a non-profit NGO – formally recognized as such by the United Nations through its Department of Public Information – having charitable and tax-exempt status in the US, UK and various other countries.

It's objectives are to aid the poor and under-priviledged of the world through disaster relief in the event of natural or man-made disasters, and long-term community development and rehabilitation projects.

In pursuit of these goals AMURT has maintained a long-established working relationship with the Red Cross and numerous other disaster relief and development organizations.

AMURT has achieved some incredible successes recently. Following the Tsunami, it has channeled more than US$2 million into successful projects in Indonesia and earned one of the best reputations in the country.

2005 Aceh Annual Report:

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, AMURT focused on providing emergency supplies to the survivors. We distributed more than US$300,000 worth of food and non-food, medical and recreational items in the first three months to thousands of tsunami survivors in different parts of Aceh.

AMURTEL (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team Ladies) also made camp visits to interact with the children. Our informal English classes were very popular and we were struck by how keen these young children were to learn a new language and to improve their lives.

AMURTEL members also provided counseling to those who had lost beloved family members, their homes, their livelihoods, everything! This was not easy and some of us were unable to hold back our tears as we cried together with those we were counseling.

From this activity, we started to discover the needs of the survivors on the long road to rehabilitate and reconstruct their lives. Education was one priority. AMURT and AMURTEL raised funds to repair, renovate and construct six schools. Of these, three have been completed (the kindergartens at Bada Barracks and Raider Barracks and Seureumo Primary School) and three more are in the pipeline (the kindergartens at Ujong Batee and Lamjampok and Junior High School No.3 in Banda Aceh).

Since April, AMURT has been working with survivors to rebuild the local economy, starting with the rehabilitation of the brick factories in Neuheun. We are delighted that the forty-two brick kilns are now operating again, and making a substantial contribution to the overall rebuilding effort in Banda Aceh. Their businesses are now thriving!

AMURTEL has been supporting livelihood programs for women. Our sewing program has provided 130 tailors (who lost their equipment in the tsunami) with the opportunity to earn their own sewing machines, as well as cash income, by sewing school uniforms for local schools. The women have already sewn uniforms for 3,920 schoolchildren of all ages, from kindergarten to senior high school.

AMURTEL's cake-making program has provided cake-making equipment and ingredients to 40 women from two resettlement barracks. The program started just in time to catch the peak Ramadan demand for cakes with which to break fast. After selling their cakes for a profit, the women repay a portion of the start-up capital in five monthly installments of cakes which AMURTEL distributes free to orphans, the disabled and the elderly.

Ibu Yanti, 30, a beneficiary of our cake-making program lost her only child – a 5-year boy – in the tsunami. In addition to making cakes for sale, she also supervises the children participating in AMURTEL's traditional dance program at Barak Bada.

In Meulaboh, AMURT is working with Sun Spirit, a Jakarta-based NGO, on the first organic farming project in Aceh. The 240 farmers have learnt techniques such as mulching, composting, and the production of fertilizer, pesticide and insecticide. They are consuming most of the crops (such as lettuce, spinach, carrots, beans, tomato) themselves but hope to sell produce in the future. One of the project staff is so inspired by the project that he plans to name his first son "Organic"!

Many tsunami survivors have expressed deep gratitude for the services we have provided them. They never imagined that their grief would be eased by strangers from different lands. On one occasion two Europeans saw AMURT taking children from a resettlement camp on a trip to the beach for the first time since the tsunami. They were impressed with the rapport and familiarity we had developed with our little "friends". This has become AMURT/AMURTEL's identity in this operation: an adaptable multi-national organization undertaking diverse programs through people-to-people connections. We give a special thank you to our Acehnese staff, who have became part of our extended family.

Read more about AMURT's global activities.

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